Owning source code

[jhop]

Ok, I'm full of questions.
I write something, compile it up. Then sell the binary with all the rights (not just a licence to use it, but actually sell the binary, and the rights to use and resell it)
However the bill of sale doesn't list the source code.

Can I just recompile it, say it is a seperate binary, and use it myself?

Can I recompile it on a different compiler, or a different platform and then own that, without changing the code?

[dwarfthrower]

Depends a bit on the circumstances.... were you commissioned to write the software by another party to their specifications or is it something you've just come up with on your own?

[vladi]

Ok, I'm full of questions.
I write something, compile it up. Then sell the binary with all the rights (not just a licence to use it, but actually sell the binary, and the rights to use and resell it)
However the bill of sale doesn't list the source code.

Can I just recompile it, say it is a seperate binary, and use it myself?

Can I recompile it on a different compiler, or a different platform and then own that, without changing the code?

If you wrote it by yourself (not hired by someone else, for example), then you own the copyright to the code - so you can sell it under any license or terms you want, keeping in mind that you have to respect the licenses of any libraries you have used.

Personally I am not a fan of selling the binary without the source code; I prefer the vBulletin model whereby when you purchase the program, you also receive the source code. This allows people to fix bugs that annoy them, change the program to make it work better for them, and in the case of vBulletin - to create plugins, add-ons. However, if you wrote it and no one payed you to, then you own the copyright so you can release and/or sell it however you like!

[dwarfthrower]

I prefer the vBulletin model whereby when you purchase the program, you also receive the source code.

Becomes a bit of a moot point when the program is the source code.

[jhop]

It was written by one of the owners of the company (2 person company). He then sold it to the company. Hard to say if he commissioned himself to do it, or came up with it on his own, and then sold it to his company.

It seems that everyone (In their legal guesses) thinks that if he changes it enough, then that is fine. Do people think recompiling it to run through a browser, rather than as a windows binary is changing it enough?

BTW: this is more academic than anything, he wants to do various changes to it anyway, to make it look better.